PHOTO: Marbue Richards celebrates championship with the youth team
By Austin J.Wisseh, Sr. jaustinwisseh100@gmail.com
A Football stakeholder, Marbue Richards, founder of the New Horizon Football Academy in Lower Margibi is challenging Liberian government authorities to put more money into football academy programs, if Liberia will have a senior Lonestar Team more or like the “George Weah 11” Lonestar.
The former deputy Youth and Sports Minister spoke to www.newspublictrust.com in lower Margibi last week, amid mounting calls for the termination of the senior National Team Coach, Peter Butler’s contract with the Liberia Football Association (LFA) for what pundits call ‘poor results’.
Coach Peter Butler is yet to win any game since November 2021; a win 3 – 1 against the Central African Republic in the AFCON 2023 qualifiers. Butler’s Lonestar since failed to qualify for this year’s world cup, Qatar 2022.
Marbue Richards: “Gov’t has never prioritized sports”
Mr. Richards, with a depth of passion and enthusiasm in his voice, took us into his New Horizon Football Academy.
“It has been my dream while in the United States; New Horizon Football Academy started in 2012. Living in Harbel, I saw the need to establish an academy program for kids located in Division 44, Firestone – Liberia. More than 130 kids had come in to join the program for 10 – 15yr olds. Our major requirement was that you [professional football determiners] had to be scoring good grades and in school. You can be a good athlete but you must also be a good student. If you played sports and you get injured, you have nothing to fall back on… All the kids trained but if you were failing in more than one subject you won’t play games. We had the kids studying and mastering the multiplication table. Some of the older kids dropped from the academy because we needed medical certificates to be sure of what we were doing. We’ve ran the program with the help of other coaches and trainers and later reluctantly registered New Horizon in 2018 4th division league winning the championship. Our Academy has Raphael Peters with the U17 national team that’s currently doing well. We also have Alpha Dee on national duty in Sweden”.
New Horizon is the current 3rd division champions in Margibi County, Liberia. Mr. Richards had lots of praise for his wife of 45 years come July 2022 for her firm support. The academy’s Chief Executive Officer also took up time to speak about the up-keep of the academy.
“We have had support coming from Firestone through Mr. Don Darden. He visited Liberia at the embryonic stage of the academy. Mr. Darden was able to get a group in Tennessee, USA and sent us 13 boxes of sporting materials and another donation of nine boxes also with sporting materials that the kids still use, from Frank Louder form the USA, a player when I coached the Invincible 11 (IE) back in the days. But locally I have not gotten any support. My wife [Gleneda] and I have been supporting this program and even paying school fees especially when we registered in the league. Currently we rent a house for six of our players and pay about 20 more fees. She has fully supported my passion through this and my love for youth football. We’re placed on this earth not for ourselves but to be there for others; doing much as I can with the resources God has blessed us with to share and to make a difference in the lives of people we come in contact with.” The 70yr old former IE coach paused.
Mr. Marbue Richards serve as Deputy Minister for Sports 2006 – 2012. He also among other roles, served as assistant national team coach during the six nations’ tournament 1979. Mr. Richards weighed in on ‘the best way to build the senior national team’ and academy programs.
Raphael Peter
“I’ve always said you don’t build a house from the roof. You build it from the foundation. Serving under Mrs. Sirleaf, then President of Liberia, I realized that FIFA was giving money for football development in this country and portion of that money went to grassroots football. My recommendation was that we need to focus on the grassroots programs. I ran into a lot of oppositions because people believed that we must focus on the senior national team. I said nothing’s wrong with playing in competitions at that level; but if Liberia’s football will get a strong footing, we had to start training the U15, U17… and the best coaches at those levels. There will be a progression in their development at the U20 and U21. In four to five years, you’ll see Liberian football will start to pick up. Not until Mustapha Raji’s administration before we see that come to fruition. From 2006 until now, there hasn’t been focus on youth. Everything has been senior national team. I said our best national team players were playing in lower leagues abroad; why don’t we focus on building locally. It’s like I hit a nerve and the public got on my case. We scheduled a test match with our local players and the foreign based players. It ended zero all. Again, you [Austin] talked about the academy program that’s where the foundation is. No country, no team can develop if you don’t have a strong youth program. You must build from the bottom not from the top. If you’ll starting from the top, your program is upside down.”
The veteran football administrator rained praise on the Liberia Football Association (LFA) for appointing the PSG’s Canada academy former coach Ansu Keita who’s leading the charge with U17 team in Austria.
Alphonso Alpha Dee, Jr.
“They [LFA] brought in somebody who is really competent to handle our U17 program. We’re seeing the results in such a short period. They’ve had couple of good results. As a result of the game against Morocco U17, you hear everyone say Keita should go on the senior national team. Again we’re focusing on the top. We want to put a roof on a house that doesn’t have strong walls yet. Now, there is the New Horizon Football Academy, Elite Academy, Lead Academy and others around the country. The football association should pay attention to those programs and provide funding. Because it is from these academies the young talents are been developed.” And I believe whatever blue print that Ansu is using now should be copied at the other levels. And that can be the Liberia Football Style. He’s building a program for us to develop. It’s important that these academies be funded and encouraged so that from that level you start to select.”
The Firestone Liberia’s Extra Curricula Head is positive of lads in the U17 National Team.
“These kids are been exposed to European Football and some might get spotted by clubs in Europe. I told them to go in there as sponge to absorb more and with an open mind. In four to five years from now, the kids will be ready and at the level of some great players we have had in the past. Then you’ll see our overall football program developed. But everybody wants a microwave effect. You don’t get it. Development is a process. You have to take your time and build from one stage to another. I encouraged the team recently to focus on what’s ahead.”
Mr. Marbue Richards concluded by saying: “Government has never prioritized sports. If government is truly interested in developing sports, it must be reflected in the budget. We currently have football stakeholders in several senior government’s positions. From the Ministry to the National Legislature to the president who himself, a former world best. We will not have this kind of opportunity to develop sports especially football any time soon in the history of Liberia.”
The Ministry of Youth and Sports has in its current budget USD 5k for ‘grassroots football’. USD – 100K for the ‘senior national team’. And ‘Transfer to other’ – USD 150k (Page # 250 MYS budget) and another Transfer to other – USD 1.8M (Page # 254 MYS budget)
With assertion by such a renowned Liberian football administrator, it is hoped that the relevant authorities will find it imperative and urgent to support youth football programs and a lot more that Liberian sports enthusiasts crave for.